182 Mr. Ch. C. Babington on Dryas octopetala. 



submit the following short account of them to the consider- 

 ation of botanists. To my valued friend, Mr. J. T. Mackay, 

 the credit is I believe due of having been the first to observe 

 that a considerable difference existed between these plants, 

 and it was by his kind permission that I had an opportunity 

 of examining the growing plants in the College Botanical 

 Garden at Dublin, and making from them the outlines which 

 accompany this paper. The differences which are found in 

 the form of their leaves and calyces and in their pubescence, 

 would in most genera be considered as of specific importance ; 

 but in the present case, although remaining constant in culti- 

 vation, they do not appear to indicate species. Indeed I look 

 upon this as an illustration of the well-known fact, that va- 

 riations of the highest value as specific marks in one group 

 only distinguish varieties in another. It may however ulti- 

 mately prove that these plants are really species, although 

 that is not the view of them which I have been led to take. 



The characters to which I am now inviting attention are, 

 the proportional length and form of the sepals, the form of 

 the base of the calyx, the form of the leaves, and the pubes- 

 cence of the petioles. Combining these, I find three very well- 

 marked varieties ; two of them confined, I believe, to Ireland, 

 and the third common in England, Scotland, and on the con- 

 tinent of Europe. This latter being the best known form, I 

 shall consider as the type of the species. In it we find the 

 sepals to be three or four times as long as broad and acute, 

 the base of the calyx being hemispherical ; in 0, the calyx is 

 very nearly the same, being only less acute ; but in 7. the 

 sepals are scarcely twice as long as broad and very blunt, and 

 the base of the calyx is truncated in a remarkable manner. 

 In a. and 7. the leaves are ovate-oblong, and deeply cut into 

 large rounded lobes, and the under side of their petioles and 

 midribs clothed with long hairs, amongst which are numerous 

 minute, linear, pellucid, fringed scales (PI. VII. fig. 1, a.) ; in 

 /3. the leaves are oblong or ovate-oblong, and deeply cut into 

 large slightly acute lobes, and their petioles and midribs hairy, 

 but without any scales. 



I would characterize the species and its varieties as fol- 

 lows : — 



Dryas octopetala (Linn.). Leaves crenate-serrate, obtuse ; flowers 

 white. 



a. Sepals three or four times as long as broad, acute, covered with 

 red hairs ; base of the calyx hemispherical ; under side of the pe- 

 tiole bearing minute, linear, pellucid, hairy scales mixed with long 

 hairs ; leaves ovate-oblong, deeply cut into large rounded lobes ; 

 under side of the petiole and midrib green. (PI. VII. fig. 1.) 



